Posted by Valerie Tarico Image by Getty Images via Daylife Reprinted from the Daily Kos. If you are a member there, please recommend this article so that it will get more discussion time! Dear Sarah, As a former fundamentalist, I'd like to call you on what you are doing. The media has found you "opaque" about your religion. Why? You have not been honest about the most important thing about you: the fact that you are a born-again charismatic on a mission from God. Most people who have never been entrenched in the subculture of fundamentalist Christianity may not understand what this really means, but I do. Like you, I was raised in the Assemblies of God and I was a zealous part of the Jesus Movement . Like you, my life was consumed with seeking God's will for my life and awaiting the imminent return of Jesus. Former fundamentalists like me know that your worldview is so encompassing, authoritarian, and powerful that it defines who you think you are, the way you vie...

Image via Wikipedia By Neal Stone In Acts Chapter 4 we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira . First off we find the believers of one heart and mind. Try and find that in today's church. As the story continues we find people who had houses and possessions and would sell them to help those who are needy. How awesome. Today you wouldn't even think of doing that. Not because we are selfish, but because we can't trust those in charge of churches to handle that kind of money. If we were to do this today a majority of the money would go to "administrative costs." Churches today are big money machines. As the story goes on, Ananias and Sapphira decide that they would sell their possessions but keep half while claiming to give all. They had in fact lied to the church and put on a show to impress the other church members. We all know that NEVER happens today. NOT! One of the reasons I quit church was I was tired of the show offs. They would be praised as spirit...

My family's spiritual journey By Sam Singleton We took up with Brother Vernon Redstart's little band of pilgrims meeting in one end of the Quonset hut , out on the River Pike, where he had his auto repair and salvage business. The Glorified Temple of the Blessed Redeemer. That's where I saw Ronald Coyne, the Man With No Eye. And of all the people that ever frightened the feces out of me, he produced the greatest amount in pure poundage. If my family's spiritual journey had been an actual trip, we'd still have been driving some beat up old heap like the Chevy. Our spiritual journey was just like that car, all crappy. And no matter how many times we had to get out and push, always in the rain or snow, my folks wouldn't quit and admit that they had no fucking idea how to get where they were going or if their destination even existed. My father would be the only one driving and he'd all the time be getting mad about something he heard or saw along the way and ...

By Neal Stone Before: Unhealthy and unattractive. Couldn't get a date to save my life. After: In great health and married. Before: Insecure and unsure of my future, career options and life. After: Able to stand on my own, more secure in myself and have a great job and a great life. Before: Never fit in and always was alone. Always sat alone in the break room. After: Have plenty of friends and my co-workers like me. Before: Frustrated with my life and the way it was going or not going. After: happy as could be with my life. Before: Depressed and unable to find God's will and my place in his will. After: Happy go lucky me. Enjoying life and living by my will. Before: Always guilty feeling and afraid. After: Love life and filled with happiness. What's to be afraid of? Before: Always asked God to show me the way and answer my problems. After: Make my own way and solve problems as they come. Before: Judgmental and critical of those who did not believe what I bel...

Crossposted from " The Calladus Blog " If you read Atheist blogs, you've probably come across the blog "Atheist in a Minivan". If you've recently tried to read it, you'll notice that it has been set to "private". Here I explain how one of the best family-centered Atheist blogs on the net was hounded offline by a group of people who displayed a cult-like behavior. - Calladus - - - - - One of my favorite blogs went dark this week. The following is my attempt to explain what happened, and it is also a rant about the cult-like rabid fan-club that is responsible. Background : The author of one of my favorite blogs was raised as a Roman Catholic and started her journey toward Atheism sometime before 2004. Before her de-conversion to Atheism she tried hard to be a "good Christian", and even wrote about it in an earlier online journal. But she came to a point where she couldn't stomach the hypocrisy, couldn't resolve biblical c...

By Lance I'm in a bit of a pissy mood right now, so I thought I'd have a little rant. Many Christians that visit this site complain how poorly Christians have been treated by atheists; now and throughout history. Most of the responses from rational people have noted that if Christians were indeed persecuted, it was for political reasons and not solely because the persecutor did or did not believe in a god. I agree. The Christians tend to bring up Hitler and Stalin a lot, but we can find plenty of evidence that Hitler thought he was doing god's work, and the Catholic Church had a big hand the Nazi regime . Similar evidence shows that Stalin killed all sorts of people for political and power reasons; not because he did or did not believe in a god. Note to Christians: Stop your whining. We could argue forever about who was persecuted and why, but that is not my topic for today. My point has to do with Jesus' teachings on this kind of persecution. I don't believe t...

By ReligionIsACrutch You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

By Dave, the WM "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion ..." from the Treaty of Tripoli , signed by John Adams, June 10, 1797. The death knell to my Christian faith was sounded in the face of Christian Theonomy /Dominionist /Reconstructionist theology. Christian Reconstructionism seeks to establish the theocratic rule of God over America through political manipulation. Unlike the Baptists who led me to Christ and taught me that Christianity and American politics were forever separated, "The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine." George Washington Reconstructionists and Dominionists taught me that it is the ordained duty of all Christians to aggressively inject religion into every aspect of the political process and into every political, legislative, and judicial decision. I know Reconstructionist Christians who currently hold political office in the Ohio State legisla...

By Neal Stone Dear Christian Leaders, For 20 plus years I lived a miserable life. A life of dead end jobs that went nowhere, living with my parents well into my 30s, no seeking school or paid-for training programs unless they were Christ-based, because seeking a career was selfish and not a godly desire. Not seeking a mate or dating because I was to focus only on the Lord and he would provide if it was his will. My life was a mess and quite lonely. But that was OK with you, because I was serving the Lord and that was all that mattered. You didn't care about my life being a dud just as long as I was serving Jesus. For nearly a quarter of a century my life meant nothing and went nowhere because of the advice and guidance I got from you. I tried to find this will of God and was often left with no answers and no direction, empty. I really thought what you taught me was right and the truth and that you really knew what was right for me. So I continued to follow your advice and gu...

Here's a third infomercial for the Texas Freethought Convention . That's October 26, 2008 at Saengerrunde Halle , next to Scholz's Garden on San Jacinto St. in downtown Austin , Texas. Many thanks to Paul Martin, the Aspiring Atheist for the use of his song " Planet of the God s" in this video. Please check out: http://www.myspace.com/aspiringatheist

Bill Maher , who has been picking on organized religion for years on his TV shows "Politically Incorrect" and "Real Time," zealously traveled the world for "Religulous," his documentary challenging the validity and value of Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths. Raised in a Roman Catholic household by a Catholic father and Jewish mother, Maher decided at an early age that the trappings and mythology of the world's religions were preposterous, outdated and even dangerous. "Religulous," directed by fellow doubter Larry Charles (" Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan "), is intended to inspire similar skepticism in others — and perhaps get nonbelievers to talk more openly about their lack of faith. "I'm not looking to form an anti-religion religion. That would defeat the purpose," Maher said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Religulous...

By Sam Singleton There have always been parents who sent their young out to toil in the evangelical fields. I’ve seen children as young as six out on the sawdust trail. I myself preached my first message when I was seven. Peter Popoff was fourteen when he held a revival at the Amalgamated Full Gospel Assembly, a flock of twenty or so under the pastorship of Flora Gilder. Yes, there were women preachers. Holy rollers were very progressive. The Amalgamated Assembly was a dingy little coop about half the size of your average garage. And Peter Popoff went over big, even if he did have a pip-squeaky voice. One or two times there must’ve been upwards of thirty-six, thirty-seven people. And this one night he picked yours truly out of the multitude to prophesy over. His whole deal was that god told him stuff that nobody else got let in on unless Peter Popoff said it was okay. I was in the second row with the rest of the clan and this little Peter comes and puts his hand on my head and lights ...

By Neal Stone We've all heard the story of the Prodigal Son. The story goes that one of two sons decides he deserves his inheritance before his father passes away and goes out into the world and blows it all and ends up living with pigs. He finally returns home to his father, and family. Does he get rebuked? Does he get punished or at least an “I told you so.” No! He gets a party. The best food in fact is used at his party. As for the good son who stayed home and honored and supported his father? He got squat. I feel that the prodigal son should have a different ending. We are told this is how salvation works. So that when we return to God he celebrates. I disagree. I think this is one of the most f'ed-up stories of the Bible. A story where a major brat is rewarded for disobedience and arrogance. Meanwhile, the good son gets screwed for being faithful and good to his family and father. You see, I have a personal issue with this story. I am “the good son”. I was the...

Say What You Will, But Pay Your Own Way By Brother Sam I’m writing this on Friday, September 25, 221 years to the day from the First Amendment’s passage by Congress. That same amendment not only proscribes the government from telling preachers what they can say from behind the pulpit, but also prohibits the establishment of an official state religion. (Note to theists: If there's ever a state religion, it probably won’t be the one you have in mind.) This Sunday, right-wing pastors across the country, having been in close communication with the Heavenly Hosts, will confer god’s own endorsement on John “the Baptist” McCain and renounce Barack Obama as an agent of the devil. No shit. They’re gonna do that. And Brother Sam says God bless ‘em. They have every right to say any stupid shit they like. And what they do in the privacy of their own loony bins is their own business, so long as it’s all between consenting adults and they leave the children out of it. It’s time for churches to r...

Putting Lee Strobel 's claims to the test -- a video by TruthSurge

By Gary W "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of god. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel." -- Thomas Paine First blind assumption: There is a god and this god is self-conscious, hereinafter called god. Second blind assumption: There is a devil and this devil is self-conscious, hereinafter called the devil. Logically, the devil would have to be the antithesis of god, and likewise god would be the antithesis of the devil. (Both are male of course, women are not allowed the status of god or devil hood in the Christian religion.) Now the devil, being the antithesis of god, is actively engaged in destroying everything sacred to god. But ...